Loss has changed me in so many ways. It has changed me in ways that I thought it would and it has changed me in ways that I didn’t expect. It has changed how I view motherhood and it has changed how I view life. It has given me a…
Tag: Jesus
Faith
Read more
A Growth Perspective
How do you define success? How do you measure growth? Do you think growth only occurs if there is a constant upward trajectory? I’ve been challenged this week about my view of growth and it’s been so good. It can be all too easy to “compare and despair” when it…
Faith
Read more
Blessings on Blessings
Have you ever just sat in awe of what God is doing in your life? Maybe you’ve seen Him working in the tiny details of your life and it reminds you that He sees you and cares about the little things in life? One of my favorite verses is James…
Faith
Read more
Be Humble, Know Your Limits
Have you ever been in a situation where you needed help, and the person that said they could help you tried, but didn’t really help at all? They said that they knew what you were going through, but in the end their advice may have done more harm for you…
Faith
Read more
Perfect Love
Have you ever been afraid? Have you ever been afraid of God? Have you ever felt unloved, unworthy, or unimportant? Have you ever felt like a failure, a fraud, or a hypocrite? Many, dare I say all of us, have at one time or another experienced at least one of these —…
Faith
Read more
Joy (Happy Easter!)
About nine years ago, I cam across a few verses in the book of Hebrews that radically shifted how I thought about the death of Jesus. Have you ever had that? You read a verse in the Bible that you’ve read before, but you catch something this time that you…
Faith
Read more
The Beginning of my New Adventure!
These past couple of weeks have been so full — in the best ways! Growth and change are quite uncomfortable for me and I have been in a busy season of growing and changing as I’ve been working on getting everything set up and ready to go for my new…
Grief
Read more
An Exciting Update!
In 2017 I prayed about starting a blog and as a result, “Embraced by Grace” was born. I’ve posted on and off over the last almost seven years, but have been super consistent over the last year and a half. My life looks radically different than it did seven years…
Life Lessons
Read more
Heart Change
Have you ever heard of King Nebuchadnezzar? If you have, have you ever learned a lesson from his life? He’s not considered a hero and you won’t find him listed among the great men of the Bible. He was the king of Babylon during the days of Daniel and he…
Holiday Posts
Read more
New Year, New Word!
Do you set New Year’s Resolutions? I don’t — I haven’t for years. I understand why people do, but they never work for me so I quit doing it. What I do like to do is to pick a word that becomes the umbrella from which any goals I might…
Grief
Read more
A Thrill of Hope
Christmas is in FIVE days! For some, that sentence brings joy and/or excitement. For others that sentence brings grief and/or panic. For some it’s a combination of both. I rest in that third category — a mix of joy and grief — and yet, I find “a thrill of hope”…
Marriage
Read more
On to “First Grade”
Do you remember first grade? You’re learning to read and write and maybe ride your bike without training wheels. You still don’t know a ton, but you do know more than you did in kindergarten. You’re a little more confident than when you were in kindergarten and you’re excited because…
Holiday Posts
Read more
Trust and Obedience
Ever since the beginning of time, humans have struggled with obedience to God. We are good at coming up with reasons in an attempt to justify our disobedience, but it all falls short. Obedience isn’t easy for us, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it. In fact, obeying God…
Grief
Read more
Grief and Grumpiness
Yesterday, I woke up and read my Bible and was in a pretty good mood — until I wasn’t. I couldn’t put my finger on why I was irritated, but I was. There were dishes that needed to be done, I was having a hard time keeping my older boys…
Grief
Read more
Happy Thanksgiving Eve
Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the holiday season for me. It’s always been one of my favorite holidays and I always looked forward to it because it marked the beginning of such a joy filled time of year. The holiday season was my dad’s favorite. I remember him making a…
Life Lessons
Read more
When Plans Don’t Happen
Do you like things planned out or do you thrive on spontaneity? If you’re a planner, what do you do when things don’t go as planned? This is something that has been a struggle for me that God has been working on in my life for a long time —…
Motherhood
Read more
Hard and Holy
Motherhood is one of the hardest, most joy filled things I’ve ever been blessed to experience. I love my children so much that I can’t fully explain or describe it. It has challenged, grown, and taught me in ways like nothing else in my life. It has stretched me to…
Grief
Read more
How Are You Doing?
“How are you doing?” is a question that I was asked more times than I can count within those initial days and weeks after my dad passed away. It’s just what people say and it was completely expected, but it was hard to answer. I had never really thought about…
Grief
Read more
Take the Picture!
May 8, 2022 was Mother’s Day. We had baby dedications at church and since we were dedicating our second son, my dad came to church. That afternoon we went to my parents house and spent time with my dad, went on a walk, and then had dinner once my mom…
Life Lessons
Read more
The Courage to Change
“Nothing changes if nothing changes.” I have no idea where that quote originally came from, but I’ve heard people reference it multiple times. Change is one of those things that, when I want it, I want it to happen now and when I don’t want it to happen, I really…
Faith
Read more
The Impact of Decisions
When you make a decision, do you always consider how it will impact those around you? I do sometimes, but I certainly can’t say that I always do. There are certain times when the decision I make is because of the impact it will have on those around me. There…
Marriage
Read more
Cancelled Plans
Have you ever cancelled plans with someone? Have you ever cancelled plans with the same person, multiple times? I know that I have. There’s this one person in particular that I have cancelled on many times — more than I can count. I didn’t really think it mattered because I…
Motherhood
Read more
Mama, Watch!
“Mama, watch!” is a phrase that I hear more and more as the days go by and my oldest son’s vocabulary continues to grow. He gets so excited about things that he learns and he wants me to watch him. From jumping, to throwing a ball, to taking a bite…
Motherhood
Read more
Asking for Help
As I was watching my two year old attempt to get his pajamas on all by himself — we have reached the stage where he wants to do everything himself — I became very aware of a few things. I was also reminded once again how God uses my children…
Motherhood
Read more
Grace for Today
Do you ever feel like you can barely make it through a day, let alone something that’s coming in the future? As I near the third trimester with my third son, I often find myself wondering how we are going to do with three boys under three. It seems like…
Life Lessons
Read more
Flour, Water, and Salt
Have you ever made something that only used a few ingredients and been amazed at what can be created with them? I embarked on a journey last year to learn how to make Sourdough bread and while I wouldn’t consider myself a master by any means, I can definitely make…
Grief
Read more
New Mercies and a New Year!
This week in between Christmas and New Year’s is always such an interesting week. The routine of a normal week is still not back because these holidays come exactly a week a part from each other. I feel like this week often brings a lot of reflection and a lot…
Holiday Posts
Read more
Silent Night?
We’ve probably all heard the song “Silent Night” at some point in our lives. I know that I hear it every year at Christmas time and I’ve always thought it was a sweet, calm song to sing. This year, as I was thinking about it, I began to wonder if…
Grief
Read more
The Joy of the Season
Christmas is less than two weeks away which seems crazy to me! I remember as a kid thinking that time went so slow, but now it seems to go by faster and faster. Some years I’ve been more ready for Christmas than others. It can be such a fun time…
Motherhood
Read more
Always Teaching
Life with a two year old has been filled with some of the best moments of our lives and some of the more frustrating ones. Our boy is so sweet the majority of the time and in the less sweet moments, he’s still adorable — he just makes you think…
Grief
Read more
Six Months
I can’t believe that it has been six months since my dad unexpectedly passed away. Six months doesn’t seem like a long time and yet it does all at the same time. To think that it has been six months since he held my boys, since I heard him laugh,…
Motherhood
Read more
Humility, Sacrifice, and Selflessness
Can you think of the most humbling, sacrificial, or selfless moment of your life? I honestly don’t know if I fully understood those words until I became a mama. From the moment of conception — or in some cases before — you give up your wants and desires for the…
Faith
Read more
Context and Empathy
“Context, context, context!” I remember hearing this at a camp I went to in high school. I also heard it in a Bible class while I was in college. In both places they were referring to the Bible and how important it is to read verses in their context. When…
Life Lessons
Read more
The Speed of Change
As I was driving the other day and seeing all the beauty in the changing colors of the trees, I realized something. When a tree begins to change colors, it doesn’t happen all at once. All the leaves on a tree don’t change at the exact same time, all the…
Grief
Read more
Changing Seasons
As the colors on the leaves change and the garden wraps up, it’s a sure sign that the warmth of summer has ended. We’re now in the season of preparing for winter and all the snow that comes with it. The changing of seasons always brings up so many analogies…
Life Lessons
Read more
For the Joy!
Have you ever had to endure something that was hard knowing that it would be worth it in the end? Have you ever had to endure something hard not knowing how it would turn out in the end? The first two examples that pop into my head are exercising and…
Faith
Read more
We Plant It, God Grows It
Did you plant a garden this year? We did and it’s the largest one that we’ve planted to date! It has been such a fun season as we’ve been harvesting beans, squash, peas, broccoli, corn, cucumbers, and lots of tomatoes! While a lot of the plants are beginning to die…
